Taskmaster #4 // Review
He's a trained assassin. One of the best in the Marvel Universe. He's throwing himself into one of the worst places he could possibly go, but it isn't his idea. Even though it is. He's going to Wakanda. It's a beautiful nation, but he's not there to see the sights. He's there to go to prison in the fourth issue of Taskmaster. Writer Jed MacKay hands artist Alessandro Vitti a bit of a challenge in a story that takes place in a very cramped space with very little going on. Remarkably, both MacKay and Vitti manage a really entertaining issue between a single villain and a single hero.
Fury is furious because Maria Hill has been killed. The only reason Taskmaster is still alive is because he knows he didn't do it. He's allowing Taskmaster to find out who did, but both of the men in question are being played by some unknown force. Taskmaster knows it, which might be the only reason why he's okay with being dropped into Wakanda with the express idea of being captured by one of its greatest warriors. The Taskmaster is going to prison, but he's been in enough of them to know that it's a classroom just like any other.
One hero. One villain. It's not much, but it's fun, though. It might help that the villain in question has his name on the front cover of the book. If the hero wins, it means uncomfortable things for the series. The reader doesn't exactly know what the villain has in mind as the real reason why Taskmaster is going into Wakanda isn't entirely illuminated even at issue's end. MacKay has done a good job of letting Taskmaster's plans reveal themselves in the course of every issue of this series. Still, as this particular issue is leading-in to the story arc's final moments, this issue remains an enjoyable mystery even after the last panel.
Vitti has done some impressive work this series, but this issue offers him a chance to show-off even if MacKay isn't exactly giving him much of an opportunity to dazzle the page visually. The entire issue takes place in a tiny prison in Wakanda. Not much to see here, but Vitti makes it work. There's a sixteen-panel action sequence in this issue that really has no business working at all. Vitti makes it work incredibly well as Taskmaster engages Okoye in brutal hand-to-hand combat. Cluttering-up the page with quick, little percussive bursts of action should be far too cramped to make any sense visually, but Vitti makes it work somehow.
The series wraps-up in April with the big finale. Taskmaster. Black Widow. Nick Fury. It's a bit showdown, but it will remain to be seen if MacKay and Vitti manage to wrap things up in a way that's going to be satisfying given how truly open and wild the first four issues of the five-part series have been. It's cool to have Taskmaster's place slowly reveal itself in the course of a given issue. Still, MacKay and Vitti will have as hell of a time getting the overall series to come together in a fifth issue as they haven't done a lot of work revealing to the reader the larger picture of the whole series.
